Select clips in Final Cut Pro

Clips represent your video, audio, and graphics files and allow you to work with your media in Final Cut Pro without changing the files themselves. To add clips to your project, rearrange them, or trim them, you first need to select them. You can select a single clip or multiple clips at a time.

Select an entire clip in the timeline

Note: This results in a range selection that matches the boundaries of the clip.

Move the skimmer (or the playhead if skimming is turned off) over the clip you want to select, then press C. This method selects the clip in the primary storyline.

Connected clips and storylines are attached to clips in the primary storyline, and they appear above and below the primary storyline. To select a connected clip or storyline with this keyboard shortcut method, position the pointer on the connected clip, then press C. See Connect clips in Final Cut Pro and Add storylines in Final Cut Pro.

A yellow border appears around the clip, indicating that it’s selected.

Note: A timeline clip selection (shown above) is different from a timeline range selection, which has visibly distinct range handles for adjusting the selection start point and end point. See Select ranges in Final Cut Pro.

Select multiple clips in the browser or the timeline

In Final Cut Pro, do any of the following:

Select a number of individual clips: Hold down the Command key as you click the clips you want to select.

Note: Command-clicking a browser clip with preexisting ranges selects the ranges rather than the whole clip.

Select all clips and ranges in the browser or the timeline: Click the browser or timeline to make it active, then choose Edit > Select All (or press Command-A).

Select multiple clips by dragging: Drag a selection rectangle over the timeline or event clips you want to select.

Deselect clips in the browser or the timeline

In Final Cut Pro, do any of the following:

Deselect a single clip: Command-click the clip or click outside it (or select a different clip).

Deselect multiple clips: Hold down the Command key and click the clips you don’t want selected.